CET process in limbo, aspirants stranded

II PUC students aspiring to secure admission to various undergraduate professional courses are in for a tough time as the preparatory work for the Common Entrance Test (CET) 2011 is in limbo.

The CET application process, which was scheduled to go online this year, is certain to be delayed. In fact, the decision to go online too is likely to be scrapped.

The process of applying, which used to begin in February first week, is likely to be delayed until the first week of March.

Higher education minister VS Acharya had announced that  CET 2011 would be held on April 27 and 28 and said the application process would go online this year. However, nothing has moved on this front after a board meeting of the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) was held on December 2, 2010.

“First of all, the Supreme Court has not yet given approval for the consensual agreement signed between the state government and private colleges,  while conducting CET 2010. In this situation, the  KEA cannot proceed on anything related to CET 2011,” said an official from the department of higher education.
The private colleges have made it clear that they are not ready to negotiate about the seat matrix and fee structure for this year’s professional college admissions, till the consensual agreement receives the apex court’s nod.

Besides, it seems the higher education minister and the medical education minister, who have the responsibility of convincing private college managements and directing KEA to go ahead, are too busy with more pressing political issues.

The KEA, which was supposed to issue online application forms from the first week of February, is thinking of withdrawing the decision. According to sources in the higher education department, to issue online applications, KEA needs to host a separate website. Setting that up is expected to take  at least a month.

 “It is almost certain that we cannot implement the online process to issue CET applications this time. This is mainly due to shortage of time. Even if we get approval from the Supreme Court by the end of January, we will fall short of time. So we are thinking of continuing with the existing process,” said an official from KEA.

“The II PUC board exams will begin from March 17, 2011 and the CET 2011 is scheduled to be held on April 27 and 28 of 2011. If they issue applications from March first week, it will affect the students’ schedule, because they need to prepare for exams and also fill the applications,” said Sahara Mohammad, faculty of science at MES College.